RDP 2018-03: The Effect of Zoning on Housing Prices Appendix A: Examples of Zoning Effects on Land and Property Values

Some examples of reports of large effects from zoning changes, compiled from a few hours googling:

• Michael Coco, a real estate agent, estimates that properties on the south side of Derby St, Penrith, zoned for two-storey developments, are worth $600,000 while those on the north side, zoned for six storeys, are worth $1 million (Jones 2016). Some properties on the north side reportedly doubled in value overnight when the rezoning was announced.
• Kulish et al (2011, p 30) cite estimates that the inclusion of agricultural land with the urban growth boundary of Melbourne raises its value from below $35,000 a hectare to above $300,000 a hectare. They also describe (fn 23) how the relaxation of zoning restrictions on property in St Leonards in Sydney raised the land value from $3 million to $14 million.
• According to Moran (2005, p 26), ‘Soon after the [Melbourne's] Urban Growth Boundary was introduced, land brought inside it, say, around Whittlesea, was selling at some $600,000 per hectare where previously before the Boundary de facto rezoned it as housing it cost $150,000–200,000 per hectare'.
• Inner West Council (2016, p 27) report that rezoning a 1,000 square metre block of land in Sydney's inner west from industrial to eight-storey apartments changes the land value from $2 million to $10.7 million.
• Murray and Frijters (2015) report that the rezoning of 13,000 hectares in south-east Queensland from rural to residential between 2008 and 2010 raised land values by $700 million.
• Wallace Zagoridis, a developer, estimates that the value of his $8 million site was halved when Ku-ring-gai Council reduced the permitted height of his project from seven to five storeys (Moore 2012).
• Chong (2015) lists large profits being made on former industrial sites that have been rezoned for residential development in Sydney. For example, the Goodman group made profits of $400 million to $600 million; the Dexus Property group expected profits of $90 million. A 6.9 hectare site near Erskineville, purchased for $16 million was sold for $350 million after rezoning. Two sites in Rosebery initially valued at $96 million were sold for $190 million. Consolidating nine houses in St Leonards, valued at up to $18 million, in a site for 200 apartments, raised the land value to $55 million.
• Land prices doubled in the Montague precinct of Fishermans Bend in Melbourne after the industrial area was rezoned to allow for residential development without mandatory height limits (Johanson 2012).
• Zhou (2017) reports that sites in Melbourne with approved plans and permits for medium-density development are selling for a significant premium, with approvals adding several hundreds of thousands of dollars to property values.